Investors in Germany's Utilities Should Vote With Their Feet

Elections Won't Clear Clouds Hanging Over E.ON, RWE

By

Anne Seith

Sept. 8, 2013 5:02 p.m. ET

Hope is the last thing to die.

German utilities RWE and E.ON spent years thinking Europe's electricity markets would open up completely and nuclear power would remain viable. Then German politics, in the form of big subsidies for renewable power and a post-Fukushima nuclear shutdown timetable, intervened. Now, with German elections due this month, the two are pushing for a rethink, arguing current policies risk power shortages.